Fishes out of water

"Fish Out of Water" is the fourth episode of the third season of the American animated television series Bojack Horseman. The episode features Bojack traveling to a film festival in the ocean, where he wears an oxygen-filled bubble to continue breathing. Notably, the episode features less than three minutes of audible dialogue.

Plot:  BoJack’s publicist Ana sends him to the world's biggest underwater film festival to promote his movie ‘Secretariat’. Unfortunately, ex-Secretariat director Kelsey Jannings is also attending the festival. Faced with the thought of seeing her, BoJack panics. He goes to the festival lobby where press events are underway. A group of fish journalists takes his picture, so he poses for them—giving them the thumbs-up sign, not knowing that this gesture is offensive in Pacific Ocean City. He notices Kelsey sadly trying to drum up interest in her movie, so he tries to write her an apology note, but she disappears before he can give it to her. 

Later in the episode, BoJack falls asleep on a bus, where he has to help a male seahorse give birth, and becomes stranded far from the city. As he starts his long walk back to the festival, he realizes that one of the baby seahorses clung to him, so he reluctantly decides to find its dad. Following many misadventures, he reunites the baby with its father, but it turns out that it was not missed. The seahorse dad invites BoJack in for dinner and even offers him money, but BoJack declines. The dad seems to ask, "What do you want?" but BoJack does not know. He leaves, depressed and jealous of the seahorse family. 

BoJack catches a cab back to the hotel. En route, he writes a heartfelt apology note to Kelsey. He arrives too late to attend the premiere, so he returns to the hotel just in time for the afterparty, where he learns that Secretariat was a huge hit. As Kelsey leaves the party, BoJack runs after her cab, but by the time he reaches her window, his soggy note is runny and blurred. Kelsey speeds off without knowing what he wanted to say. 

As BoJack stands at a crosswalk, a man with a helmet yells at him by pressing a button on the collar. Realizing that he could speak the whole time, BoJack presses the button and the episode finishes with him saying "Oh you have got to be kidding—" 

You are Bojack:  Bojack is intimidated by the idea of confronting Kelsey. He carries guilt off the fact that he paved way for her getting fired and chose to not say a word ever since. At the beginning of the episode, as he finds out that Kelsey will be present at the festival, he decides to not go. He tries to make a run from it but fails and he is sent into a world where people don’t speak his language. Look closely and one can see that going into a place he is alien to, doesn’t scare Bojack but meeting an old acquaintance does. He fights his battle and decides to write an apology.

 He writes, “Kelsey, in this terrifying world, all we have are the connections we make. I’m sorry I got you fired. I’m sorry I never called you after.” It’s as real as Bojack can be. He through the letter puts light on a fact that he’s terrified of the world. However, he believes in the connections. He knew he messed up things for Kelsey but he points out how good a connection they both shared. Life puts us all in confusing situations. One must simply realise that apologising for a mistake, however big it is, is the right thing to do. Accept the mess-up. Not all times will you get an “its okay” for a reply but it’ll still be the right thing we do. 

 On the bus, he dozes off introspecting his life. Well, the side seat of a bus or the shower is the best place to do so. 

Bojack finds the kid stuck to him and in the attempt to return it, he goes through some serious struggles. It’s nothing but an indication of the compassion hidden in him somewhere. He couldn’t leave the baby just anywhere but took it straight to its father. Later, when he finds out that the baby wasn’t missed, it breaks him as he sees himself in the baby. Bojack had a ruined childhood and knowing that the baby wasn’t missed makes him go into his memory lane. This is me or you. Some things can’t be forgotten in life and we may have to live with it. Going back to the memory lane is not a bad thing. It only makes us human to put ourselves in another’s shoes. 

As the Dad seahorse asks him “what he wants?” he is baffled. He doesn’t know what he wants. He had all the money and fame and it didn’t matter to him. His movie was doing great and he’s on the way to an Oscar nomination, but that doesn’t matter. All his life he has wanted acceptance and as he gets it, he knows it’s not real. At that very moment, he wants to tell Kelsey how sorry he is and he wanted her to tell him it’s okay. But this is life and it doesn’t happen that way. There will be some things we want which we won’t get, ever. Closure isn’t promised in life and you have to accept it. 

Sometimes, you can write the most heartfelt letter you have ever written in your life and still get it ruined in water. That’s life. Sometime, you could be able to talk all the while but you wouldn’t know. 

You will be scared to press the button and just open your heart but you will realise that you should’ve once the opportunity has passed on. This was just an interpretation of an episode that touched me real deep and I hope, you as a reader get the point. Not everything in life will be okay and it’s okay to be Bojack.